Iowa school district handing out MacBooks to grades 5-12

The Central City school district in Central City, Iowa will be distributing …

Apple has had somewhat of a resurgence in educational markets lately. Elementary schools in particular have been feeling the MacBook love, with school districts in Louisiana receiving MacBooks for certain grades. Now, according to KCRG-TV, Center City, Iowa is joining the party, and will be distributing MacBooks to students in eight grades.

The district is distributing the notebooks due to concerns over the availability and speed of existing computers. All students in grades five through 12 will be getting MacBooks in the fall, and teachers responsible for those grades will be receiving the devices as well. According to the district superintendent, the total purchase is roughly 380 MacBooks, which will be paid for with new county funding. Mobile Learning Labs are also on order for the lower grades.

In terms of restrictions, the MacBooks are "strictly for school subjects," and will have a variety of filters to deal with inappropriate content. The students will still be able to take their laptops home, though, so the restrictions must not be entirely draconian. Insurance has also been purchased to cover damage to the the notebooks. Overall, the Center City MacBook rollout is one of the larger notebook distributions we've seen a district undertake, but we're sure to see more in the future.